patrickkemner Reviews

Jane Eyre (2011)

Poor script and no chemistry between main actors

[3/10 · 11 September 2022]

Jane Eyre is a movie created from poor scriptwriting and actors who do not work well together on screen, they have zero chemistry.

The first quarter of the film is good enough to keep you going, but as soon as Jane arrives in the house of the main actor's character, things starts to go downhill.

The "love story" feels like it is forced both on the characters and the audience. There is no build up of the relationship, one day they are not in love and the next whooosh! They are. The male character is also very poor. He has no background, comes from nowhere, has no depth, and we do not care if he lives or die, even for Jane as the actors have zero chemistry and the love thing feels very forced as if they did not know how to script a love story making it not credible.

What kills the movie are two things, there are no antagonists at all of any kind that stays more than a minute in the movie, and no one saves the cat. The people behind the camera could have chosen the women in the secret room as one, but that way too hard to do. They could have used the lady, who we do not care about since like most characters have absolutely no background or depth, that was apparently promised to the main actor's character as an antagonist too, but that too seemed to be complicated.

So aboring movie, devoid of credibility, with main actors that have zero chemistry between them as well as the secondary characters (and the actresses) being more interesting than them (old servant lady and the little French girl), and the ellipses (jump in time) are horribly executed and poorly placed as if they were made by children without any form on screenwriting experience.

Greyhound (2020)

Poor egocentric movie

[3/10 · 5 February 2021]

Hi!

Normally I warn about minor spoilters, but my minor spoilers are basically the entire movie since there is very little happening in it.

This movie is of poor quality. It should have been the equivalent of Das Boot but for the escort and the men who sacrificed their lives to protect merchant ships in ww2 but it turned out to be a movie about Tom Hanks. Everything is about Tom Hanks, so much that his own character suffers from it and the other actors have little to no role in the movie. They are just tertiary unimportant characters. We do not care whether they live or die unlike in Das Boot and others. Just to tell you, we have no idea who is who aboard the ship and what kind of person they are... we do not even know who the captain played by Tom Hank is. Extremely poor characters development. Furthermore, there is no story element to the movie. It lacks depth, meaning, and it feels like it is looking for a purpose but finds none. It does not even feel like a movie about people who sacrificed their time and life to protect those who could not.

Also, why would people cheer escorts after losing seven ships and hundreds of people? That is so silly. The captain of the merchant ships could have said their thanks, but this Hollytrash ending is stupid.

The only positive aspects of the movie are the visuals, albeit no logical and unrealistic, they are nice, and the music which is good.

U-Boots surfacing to attack escorts in rough seas while not being destroyed and the submariner having the time to exit their sub, unlock their guns, man , load, aim and shoot them without the escorts being able to do anything is purely ridiculous. The navymen of the entire world must have laugh out loud seeing this farce of a movie. A ww2 U-boat would not be able to use his gun in such rough seas, the sailors would just get swept by the seas too.

The movie is way too short too, there is no build up nor do we get to know the crew... as I said, the movie is about Tom Hanks, not about the people on the ship and their life as an escort's crew and its dangers.

It is a Hollytrash movie made by ignorant people that have not done their homework by consulting professionnals about submarine warfare. The marine must laugh at this movie big time. If only the movie was about the crew and how they lived their life aboard their ship while under attack, there would at least been that, but nope.

After this movie, I am not sure I want to see movies with Tom Hanks anymore...

The three stars goes to the people who worked on the music, the visuals and the people who lost their life escorting ships in ww2, I give none to those who made this movie, it feels very amateurish beyond the visuals.

A really poor egocentric movi and I am very happy that it did not appear in the movie theaters because it is not worthy to be there.

Gotham (2014–2019)

Entertaining and tells us more about Gotham and its residents

[7/10 · 6 April 2020]

Albeit not the best show ever, the series' success is mainly due to certain actors who are simply carrying the show on their shoulders. One of the really good casting and scripting is Wayne's Butler, really good and one of the best in the series.

I think the threats on Bruve Wayne's life are extremely weak plots, in fact, anything threatening him is weak since we know that he is Batman and will live anyways. What they should focus on is not "ohhh! Wayne's life is in danger" (and just leave that in the background, with the investigator in the spotlight instead) but what the event did to him and his personality. There is zero suspense when someone threatens Bruce's life.

Aside from that, the storytelling is above average, which helps. But like I said, it is a small number of people in front of the cameras that makes the series worth watching. I think about hte butler, detective Gordon, Mrs. Fish, and Miss Kean. Selena is nice too, I think Miss Bicondova really does a good job.

Sidenote on Mr. Mckenzie and his character : Oh! And please do tell Mr. McKenzie that I have a really hard time seeing him as detecive Gordon, he looks too much like Mr. Bruce Boxleitner and his Babylon 5 character Captain Sherridan... I wish someone would have the idea to cast him as a younger Captain Sherridan before he was assigned to command the space station, what happened to him. He basically is captain Sheridan. I only see this character whenever I see Detective Gordon. hehe! I would really love to see him in a short 10 episode series as captain Sherridan on pre-Babylon 5 story pretty much like the Picard Star Trek Series, without a second season (I hope we will not see a second season of Picard, it is good as it it... hope they do not make the mistake they did with a second and more seasons of ST: Discovery). Mr. McKenzie really looks like the young Mr. Boxleitner. :)

Moana (I) (2016)

Superbe motion capture and story.

[9/10 · 16 February 2018]

A great animation movie. Sure it might not be the exact story, but which movie tells the exact story anyways? None.

Entertaining, brings the pacific people's mythology and legends known to the entire world, Dwayne Johnson and Auli'i Cravalho are an excellent pair in this animation movie.

Speaking of animations, the motion capture and the movements of each character, especially Moana, is simply awesome. I truly appreciate the hard work that was put into making the characters move. It must have been hard work, especially with Moana's hair. I know hair and water are part of the hardest things to produce in computer graphics.

Thumbs up!

I see some trolls in the reviews, I wonder if they are paid to bring down movies? hehe! Because this one is more than excellent.

Frozen was a drama with lots of good songs, Moana is an adventure movie with a few songs that are all entertaining and beautiful.

A small gem that should be really appreciated by the kids... also those who would have liked to see Maui and his story on the big screen but without the super special effects and with a very poor script like the one from Clash of the Titans (2010) for example.

A must see for all kids and yound at heart. :)

War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)

The best Planet of the Apes movie

[8/10 · 16 February 2018]

This is the greatest story for this universe apart from the first movie ever made. It is the best one that was made since the resurrection of the movies.

The acting is good, the story is good, the cgi is awesome, the setting is great and the landscape too.

A good mix of action, adventure, drama and a bit of comedy.

It is a bit underrated for such a good movie.

This movie and the first original movie would be the only two that I would buy from all the Planets of the Apes movies.

Hangman (II) (2017)

A classic detective movie made in the 21st century

[7/10 · 16 February 2018]

This movie and story is a classic detective movie with a bit of drama.

If you have not watched or read many detective stories, then you might find enjoyment in this movie. For those who have seen or read many detective stories, then maybe it is best to avoid this or just watch it for Al Pacino if you are a fan, because the story is not really new and has its roots based in classic detective stories.

Al Pacino as always is great. The other actors do their job too.

Not because the story is not new that the story and in this case the movie is bad. I enjoyed the story even though I knew in advance everything that was going to happen, including the ending, but that is just with experience with such movies. If it were the first time I saw a detective movie, I would have liked it for sure. This does not mean I do not like it now, I really do, especially since Mr. Pacino is in it.

He is my favorite male actor with Clint Eastwood for actors that grew in the 20th century.

It is a good movie to watch on TV or Netflix during the week. :)

Sphere (1998)

Highly misunderstood movie

[8/10 · 16 February 2018]

This movie might as well be the most misunderstood one of the century.

It is a well woven fantastic (the literary term) story. If you know what a fantastic story is, then you will appreciate this movie.

(End of movie spoiler alert!) When you arrive at the end of the movie, you continue to ask yourself questions. Have they truly escaped the sphere or are they just caught in it perpetually? Were they really rescued or is that just what they desired and are still caught underwater?

Most people do not seem to understand how great fantastic stories are. Half Light is also another good modern one.

They do not make much of these because people seems to be just too dumb to understand or they prefer quick stories, with lots of explosions and killing or sex and drama, rather than a well woven story like Sphere or Half Light or literary art like La Venus D'Ylle or Axolotl.

The acting in this movie is appropriate, there are rotten tomatoes there. The actors/resses do their job.

This movie is an underdog and highly underrated due to people not understanding the story.

Nashville (2012–2018)

A series that should last long (10+ seasons)

[9/10 · 9 February 2018]

Greetings (Comments on the shutdown of the show follows the comments on the seasons)

Nashville is an excellent platform for singers, actors, compositors and everyone that comes in between and supports those people. The new, the young, the old and the forgotten. People come and go on Nashville, but the series continue. If a series like Criminal Mind or NCIS can have 15 seasons or more, then an excellent show like Nashville can have that too.

The series should continue perpetually. It gives young artists visibility in the industry and allows us to see old stars come back for one or a couple of episodes. Then we go "ah yeah, that guy (girl) from the XX years."

So, Nashville should be more than just a show, but a platform for the young and the old to come and show what they can do or could do back in the days. Even if they are just cameos or brief appearances, it is really nice to see these people perform.

Discovering new artists via Nashville is what I like most, because not only you see them sing, play music or hear their compositions, but also see them act and alive through their character.

The show is not using male writing, but more of a female writing. A good example of male writing are episodes 4-6 of Star Wars, goes higher and higher and then boom! Ending. Nashville is more like waves, up and down, up and down. Whenever a story is about to end, something else comes up and that something else is sometimes seeded earlier in the season. Well written seasons even though sometimes I do not agree with the writers (like with Gunnar), they do a great job.

There are a few minor downsides. I do not like what the writers did with Gunnar, he was a really good secondary character in the first season, but starting in the second, he became more and more stupid to the point of becoming and a complete idiot. I have no idea why the character degenerated like that.

On the other hand, Avery started out like a big fool, but wizened up with the events in his life and became, with Deacon, the lead male in the show. Thumbs up Jonathan Jackson, you are doing a great job, and stay sane, I know Juliette is always doing so weird things, but she means well. ;)

In the current season (2018) I am pretty sure that Juliette will end up either dead in a mass suicide of the cult, or the writers will surprise me with her coming back refreshed and ready to face th crowds again. I really hope the last is what will happen (or at least she comes back alive). Hayden Panettiere is really good both as a performer as an actress in her role as Juliette. It would be really unfortunate for her and the fans of the series if she dies. If Hayden quits that is her business and she would probably have good reasons, but just killing off her character, even if storywise it is great, it would give too much a blow to the show to recover. There are no other lead females after that even though I really like Clare Bowen, her character is not strong enough to be lead.

In the 2019 season (hope they will continue), Juliette (if they do not kill her) should no longer be the crazed singer anymore. Her story should be Juliette and Avery vs. their past, facing that together, not each on their own. Like extreme fans introducing themselves in their lives (both fan of Juliette and Avery) which would violate their privacy and annoy them both. The "war" should no longer be within Juliette or within Avery, but without. It would be them against the others. It would reinforce both character and show us how fans can be and how supportive husband and wives (family) can be in such situations. Or whatever the writer comes up with as long as Juliette and Avery are a team in that, not like the current season (2018).

Characters that should never die (unless the actor(ress) decides to leave)

• Deacon Claybourne (way too strong to go, he carries not only his family and the family company on his shoulders, but part of the show too.)
• Avery Barkley (similar to Deacon, but carries Juliette on his back instead of a company, which is a much bigger job. ;) )
• Juliette Barnes (Hayden is great. I think she found her place in this show.)
• Maddie Conrad (Lenna has great potential of becoming a good performer and actress on the long term. The future lead female with Hayden. It would be nice to have that Rayna James and Juliette Barnes feel with Maddie, but with Juliette at Rayna's place. hehe!)

These four basically carry the show on their shoulders.

Secondary characters I think should stay in the show for as long as the actor(ress) wants to play them : Will Lexington (really great guy and performer) Scarlett O'Connor (the actress is the sweetest woman I have even seen in my life. Good singer too. Probably a great person to have on the Nashville team behind the scenes.)

I also like Bucky, Daphne, and the old Gunnar.

Lennon Stella is prettier with her natural hair colour btw. Please Lenna, bring back your beautiful hair, right now, you look like all other female singers out there, no longer like Stella. Stay on your wave, do not try to be someone else's. :)

I hope Christina Aguilera will come back someday to the show, she played a good character and I liked her as an actress.

On the Series' shutdown... Poor decision on the part of studios/tv channels to stop Nashville. As we can see in season 6, it was just recovering from the big bang of the death of Rayna James. everything seemed to take a new life. The wheel was beginning to spin again. So unfortunate.

It is quite unforgivable to do this to such a nice crew and show. Nashville is so much better than repetitive shows like The 100s, Walking Dead, and so on who just copy paste their scenarios from previous ones they have made but changes the location and characters. In Nashville, you have different things happening each season.

I would rather have 10 seasons of Nashville than 10 repetitive seasons of The Walking Dead.

Such a poor decision to end Nashville.

Nashville is not only a TV series, but also a platform for young, old and forgotten artists, whether they be singers, composers, musicians, etc. to perform their art. It is incomprehensible that such a platform be shut down just like that. Nashville should last a long time. CMT should do their best to find the way to continue the series with at least Hayden Panettiere, Charles Esten, Jonathan Jackson, the Stella sisters, and Chris Carmack. I do love Scarlett O'Connor, she is the sweetest person I have seen in my life, but they need to quit the depressing look all the time, make her live through some really good times, she is so beautiful when she smiles.

Did I mention it was a very poor decision to end Nashville already?

Logan (2017)

So much better than the last crappy X-Men

[10/10 · 19 March 2017]

Greetings

Finally, an excellent X-Men movie. After the mediocre scenarios of First Class (Some actors were great though) and the awful Apocalypse movie (everything is bad in this movie), we have at last an excellent X-Men movie worthy of the original cast of the X-Men (Even though Anna Paquin's Rogue personality/story was in fact Jubilee's and it should have been her. Rogue is a tough, rowdy woman, not a horror film screamer with a girlish attitude... but the actress did what she was told to do... although the real Rogue story played by a tough rowdy actress would have been better.).

It was nice to see Mr. Stewart and Jackman work together once more, they have a great on-screen chemistry. Wish the original X-Men cast did more movies together, I miss those actors as the X-Men. Pity the director and writers screwed up everything with an amateurish X-Men 3...

Well, it is not an ameritrash movie with no scenario and where everybody claps hands at the end of the story, which is good (so cliché and I am tired of watching the same movie each time with different actors and theme).

Everyone in this movie gives an exemplary performance as an actor, even young Miss Dafne Keen is great. hehe! :D

Logan is a touching movie about the only surviving X-Men, Wolverine, and his life a long time after the other X-Men disappeared or died. Professor X is old (80ish in the story) and Logan, well, something is wrong with him and we see it right at the beginning of the movie. Like I said, the movie is not flashy and superficial like the last few Marvel movies, it's not based on a bang-bang! pow-pow! or a cliché, and very boring, save the world scenario like Suicide Squad or X-Men Apocalypse. There IS a scenario, character psychology involved (probably why Mr. Jackman and Stewart agreed to make another super hero movie with the Wolverine and Prof. X), emotions, an intrigue (you are asking yourself questions for the first part of the movie... especially if you don't know much about X-Men's comic book universe), and of course, captivating credible characters.

You really feel the pain of the characters and for that I lift my hat to the actors as well as those who made it possible for them to be so real (good editing, scripts, directing, etc.).

If you are like me and loved X-Men 1 and 2, well Logan is even better albeit being a sad dark tale. But it seems that the Future Past never came at least. No Sentinel-ruled U.S.A... for now.

I will certainly buy the Logan DVD and put it beside The Wolverine movie (the first one, not the crappy 2nd with the botched scenario) and X-Men 1 and 2 in my collection. The actors and those who worked on the movie merit at least that... hope they get recognized by winning a prize in some big award show, because Mr. Jackman and Stewart did an amazing job with their characters.

Thumbs up both of you!

Moontrap: Target Earth (2017)

A hastily made movie

[1/10 · 19 March 2017]

Greetings

Usually I do not criticize acting performance for the entire movie but this one, well, I can't find anything good about the acting.

The script does not help either.

The scenes and the way the story is told make you sleepy at best.

I prefer watching again that very low budget film Moontrap that was filmed a long time ago... at least it was not too long and had a better script but most importantly better acting.

Don't watch this, even if you can see it for free, you will find very little that is good in this movie. Do not sacrifice your time for such movie, take a walk in the park and it will be more entertaining and artistic than this movie.

One Under the Sun (2017)

Do not base your opinion on the negative reviews here.

[7/10 · 19 March 2017]

Greetings

The movie is a decent one. The other reviewers mostly point out superficial flaws.

The complaining about acting is exaggerated at the very least. The actors do their job, sure, the secondary roles actors are not the best one, but they are not the important characters. The mother, daughter and father are the most important, and all three actors get the job done.

The story is nice too, I preferred watching this than a crappy XXXmillions of $ X-Men Apocalypse which was mediocre at best (the acting in that movie for half the cast was poor at best, half of what is left were kind of searching what the hell their characters were doing there or how to play them. Poor movie.) not to mention poor acting for a very high budget film. One Under the Sun might not have the best secondary role actors you can get, but what do you expect from a movie that did not have half a billion of dollars in budget? The directing is alright, it does not have mistakes like, oh say, X- Men 3 with newbie errors that made that big budget movie look as if it was directed by an amateur instead of a professional, not to mention having the biggest crap of a script that existed in super hero movies at that time (Iron Man 2, Suicide Squad and X-Men Apocalypse were worse than that movie with their own flaws since then).

The story is touching and will reach anyone who has someone in their family, especially someone young, who is very sick, maybe even terminally ill. The story is also one of hope and is in the same angle as Eye Origin and Caotica Ana, hope that there is something beyond death. Which is why we only have one god left, and it is the God of Death since it is the only thing that we are still afraid of and cannot explain what and if something comes after death. This movie gives hope and also shows the dedication of a mother, how far she will go and what she could do for her own child.

I really love the fact that there is no bang-bang! pow-pow! in the movie like other so called "science-fiction" movie like any of the Independence Days which are more action movies than anything else. The Arrival of Mr. Villeneuve, well that is what a real science-fiction movie should look like, although I am certain that better (and worse) movies can be done, it is still an excellent one that I have already watched three times.

One Under the Sun is a movie that you watch if you do not need "action" scenes (bang-bang! pow-pow!-like) and are looking more at a more intelligent form of entertainment. For example, you prefer NCIS with its more intelligent scenarios over NCIS- Los Angeles which is mostly bang-bang! Pow-pow! scenarios. That is okay, it is there for the masses while New Orleans' and the original cast are for a more refined audience. I see One Under the Sun like NCIS and NCIS New Orleans, something for the above average cinephile.

Sure, it has flaws, but they do not have hundreds of millions like that X-Men 3 or Apocalypse ones where there is absolutely no excuses for having poor acting performance, poor direction and mediocre scripts. One Under the Sun does its best with the budget and actors it got, the importance in a movie is the story and how it is told, many people forgot about that. Who complained about the acting performance of your mother or father (or anyone else) who told you stories when you were a kid? No one, because the story was what was important. So don't complain on acting unless it is truly horrible like Sophie Turner in the role of Jean Grey, that was poor acting. She should leave the super hero roles to the professionals, she sucks at that. She was there just because of Game of Thrones, if it were not for that, she would have never gotten the role. The original actress in X- Men 1 and 2 (3 too but I don't count that horrible movie) was a really good super hero as Jean Grey and had good chemistry on the screen with the other actors and actresses for example unlike Miss Turner. And there was no reason to have poor acting in such a big budget movie. Again, don't expect 5-star acting performance here, the importance in One Under the Sun is the story, and to me, it was well told and could please to many who takes their time to understand it.

This movie is not an artistic movie like Melancholia with Kirsten Dunst and Kiefer Sutherland, which I recommend for anyone who is looking for something else than your usual Hollywoodian films, but it has a little touch of art in it still. You can feel that the writer(s) and the director tried to do something more than your usual "hollytrash" or "ameritrash" movies like some people say.

I only recommend this movie to the above average cinephile, those who content themselves with bang-bang! pow-pow! movies, stay away from it, you will probably get bored quite quickly.

The Woman in Black (2012)

Not a creative story

[5/10 · 21 December 2016]

This movie is too close the The Marsh and another movie which I forgot the title.

It has little creativity in its story and is highly predictable. While I was watching it with a friend, I was betting that this or that would happen next and it all happened. BORING!

I recommend skipping this if you have seen many horror movies in your life as it bring nothing new to the genre nor does it have an original scenario (too similar to The Marsh).

The acting is somewhat alright, but like all modern horror big money movies, the scariness is focused mainly on sounds rather than actual horror or psychological horror. Typical of ameritrash movies. At least it does not end with everyone clapping their hands like most ameritrash.

NCIS (2003– )

One of these rare shows that lasts

[9/10 · 9 May 2016]

(Minor spoilers for one specific episode further down)

NCIS is a show that mix humour, good acting, colourful characters (Abby ;) ) and situations that could happen in real life. The combination is a new approach at crime solving stories on T.V.

I think what makes NCIS so great is the casting. Each time there is an actor leaving the crew, the casting people find not only a good actor/ress, but also an interesting character for him/er to play. The crew of actors/resses and their characters is what makes NCIS one of the best shows on TV. Few shows lasts over 10 seasons, not even Star Trek can do that (they run out of ideas very quickly, turning to soap opera and sexual stuff like with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Once Upon a Time). In NCIS, the writers and producers have the wisdom of not putting all their ideas in a season and be left with nothing for the following seasons, nor do they lower themselves at doing cheap soap opera, sexual stuff and rush/overstretch their stories.

Yeah, the writers and producers (Mr. Mark Harmon included) are another big plus for this show to keep it going and going. With all the great minds working together, this show could go on forever. Even if Gibbs retires, the show could go on with Mr. Weatherly as the leader of the squad... and maybe bring back Miss David at that time to strengthen up the crew... Gibbs is a big chunk, but Anthony is a big chunk too and can fill Gibbs' shoes if we let him... he did it for a couple of episodes back in the early days of NCIS.

About more superficial stuff... The music is nice and well adapted to the situations and stories in the show. It complements the show quite well.

I prefer NCIS over NCIS:Los Angeles because LA is just a Bang-Bang! Pow-Pow! story. I have not seen as single episode where they do not shoot a single bullet (the NCIS team). In NCIS, there are episodes that no one, except maybe the criminal, who shoots (like in episode 22 from season 13, Homefront. No one on the NCIS team shoots, just the killer). LA is just a no brainer series, although like NCIS it has good casting, especially for the four agents (Callen, Kensie, Sam and Deeks), I think that they are running the show, the others are very secondary. Although, I must admit that I have a weak spot for Renée Felice Smith (Nell), she is the most beautiful woman on the show. Miguel Ferer is a good addition to the team, he was a good actor in Crossing Jordan... it would have been nice to make a crossover with his former character, but the writers gave him an assistant director role instead, which is fine since he can be a pain in the butt for the quatuor. I think I'm going to watch Crossing Jordan again, I really liked that show and Jill Hennessy... wouldn't mind seeing her in NCIS (or in LA, New Orleans) as a character that comes and go like Fornell...

Speaking of Fornell, I think the character should get more time. The character and actor does great things with Gibbs/Harmon. They have great chemistry. They are funny and pack a punch against bad guys. Hope that the writers don't kill Fornell... kill someone else man! Leave poor ol' Fornell alone. He's been through enough already. ;)

They do typical USA series/movies stuff in all NCIS. Like Helicopters and planes flying super low altitude, which is unrealistic. Planes and Copters are ranged weapons and will use their range to their advantage since they are so delicate and will not be close range like we see in USA movies and series. It makes the shows/movies look dumb and silly. They need to fix that.

I really like it when they make tires scream on dirt roads. Hahaha! Small mistake on the part of the sound crew, hope they will be more careful in the next seasons. ;)

Anyways, I wish everyone working on the show (NCIS) fortune and perseverance. You are doing more than a fine job. Stay away from cheap soap opera. Stay loyal to your recipe, the way you make the show since day one, what the show is about, and the show will go on for maybe another 5 to 10 years depending on when Mr. Harmon will retire from acting in NCIS... I surely want him to stay as a producer as long as he wishes/can, his episodes are really nice.

Three thumbs up for everyone doing the NCIS show!

Once Upon a Time (2011–2018)

Started good, but now it is getting bad

[6/10 · 19 April 2016]

Once Upon a Time started out a good light series for all in the first three seasons. I really liked it until the Peter Pan part which was overstretched and should have lasted three less episodes. After this, the Frozen part with Elsa and Anna was well executed and the casting for the actresses were right on the button, they were great, especially Anna. After the Frozen story, it seemed that the writers and directors rushed each of their idea afterwards, doing the complete opposite of the Peter Pan part. In season 5, it gets worse every episodes and it isobvious that the writers have no ideas anymore. They're at the crappylevel of the last seasons of Buffy, Heroes and other series that losttheir ways due to lack of ideas of overstretching the series with lesbians, cheap soap opera, etc. Don't get me wrong, I don't care if a show has homosexual stuff, or cheap soap opera, but when the show has not declared itself to be like that, then it is wrong. Once Upon a Time is not cheap soap opera or homosexual stuff, it's about fairy tales, the classic good vs. evil, magic and wonderful things in season 1 to 4. Season 5 they add the crappiest part with lesbians, cheap soap opera and so on, which has nothing to do with the theme nor with Disney or fairy tales. If at least they would add good drama in it instead of soap opera in wonderland (lol), that would have been a good addition, but it is not the case.

If you want to make a homosexual, drugs, or cheap soap opera series, do it from the start, don't change the recipe in season 5 because you ran out of ideas, just end the series if you ran out of ideas. Don't ruin the show like they did with Buffy and Heroes for example.

If the directors and writers would have been loyal to their series and developed their ideas more instead of rushing them down the throats of the fans, I would have given this series an 8 out of 10, but because the series is going downward and it is obvious that they have ran out of ideas and are just filling blank pages with pretty much anything without thinking, I'm giving it a 6 instead and that's just for the three first seasons.

Sorry guys, you should stop your series with season 5, because right now, you are not respecting your own series and you only show how much you lack ideas for your own stories. If I want to watch cheap soap opera or something else, I will not watch Once Upon a Time but those crappy series that passes in the afternoon on T.V.

Dark Matter (2015–2017)

Good and bad

[5/10 · 23 September 2015]

I like the actors, they do a good job.

The CGI and other special effects are adequate for a modern sci-fi story.

There ain't too much tech talk, which is good. Doesn't feel like Star Trek (which is boring sometimes).

Downsides are mainly the poor storytelling sometimes. Everything is rushed. That memory part along with the girl's collective memory could have been used over the entire first season, but was rushed and the result was crap.

Another downside is typical of poor writers where they introduce a character (especially interesting or stylish ones) only to kill him/her off in the same episode. That is just very poor storytelling and other series who did the same were terminated (Ex. : American Gothic (Sam Reimi)).

There are too many ellipses, combat, and rushed parts in the story. It is as if the writers do not have enough experience (or talent) to create a thorough story. I know that the memory plot with the girl who has all the other's memories could have taken an entire season to unveiled its mysteries along side the adventure they are in. I feel like the series ain't a continuous story, it is as if the writers have no idea where they are heading, writing each episode independently. This contributes too to the poor storytelling. Because of that the story is predictable. I knew who the traitor was in the 13th episode in the first 15 min, I only watched the rest of the episode just to see how it was written... and this could have been a story over an entire season that could have gone parallel with their adventure. I think the writers needs to rethink their work or hire someone competent/experienced to do the job, too many good triggers and plots have been rushed/botched.

TV Series are required to have good storytelling otherwise it falls short of their potential. Dark Matter is one that come short of its potential.

Conclusion, this show is lower in quality especially in the writing department and storytelling than older series like Babylon 5, Firefly, etc. Guess some people don't watch how things are done in other shows. Like writers needs to read novels to improve their writing skills (or at least see what and how are things done elsewhere) the writers needs to watch more series, especially the great ones like Babylon 5 or Firefly, and take what's great about them and tell their story with those tools.

I don't think Dark Matter will have any other episodes, it's too darn rushed and botched.

Mythica: The Darkspore (2015)

Good movie that was made but with a few gold coins

[8/10 · 6 July 2015]

Some vague spoilers following the work of the crew...

This movie picks up the story where it ended in Quest for Heroes.

Again, Mrs Anne Black and her crew of actors and technicians do a good movie with little resources. I wonder how they do it. :)

Actors do good things to improve the movie, more than in the first I think. Although, I miss the dwarf. ;)

Good sound quality, the music is well composed and well placed, the cgi is better than in the first.

I'm happy that our big warrior didn't fell on his behind in this movie. I can't believe how many times he was on the ground in the first movie. haha!

Combat on the other hand is poor, especially in the big fight near the end of the movie where the orcs are just standing there and doing nothing, just waiting for... well, nothing. When surrounded the heroes should be fighting for their lives and being hit from every side, that would have been more epic. Maybe you guys should keep an eye on the combat scenes. Hitting someone with a foam or plastic sword or mace shouldn't hurt any of the actors. hehe! I know you work hard, but make sure you take each combat scene a couple of times to make it look the best and especially the most believable.

I know you are more interested in telling a story, but a movie needs to have good visuals too, not need to be Hollywood or Disney quality, just well made one with the budget you have. Have the enemies of the hero hit them next time, even if the blows glances off armour or shields, it makes the fight more believable and intense.

Kudos again for a good movie considering you had a limited budget. :D

The Broken (2008)

Good, but not that original

[7/10 · 1 July 2015]

Contains spoilers!

I liked the movie, but I would have liked it better if it would have come out before the Body Snatcher.

Because this movie is basically the body snatcher movie except that instead of an alien plant, it is extra-dimensional beings that replace people and they don't scream like in Body snatcher when they spot a human.

The people who made the script definitively lacked creativity. They just took the older movie and put some new painting, and convinced people that this is a new movie, but it is not.

It is not as scary as the older movie, and not as deep or thrilling either.

The only part that is new is the extra-dimensional being had some amnesia and thought it was human. But that also comes from another movie, but meh! Too tired to write more about this other movie, so I'll leave it to that.

It's a decent movie, but I would never spend a dime on it, since body snatcher already exists plus that other movie. They just did not create anything and that is unfortunate. But the film crew (director, actors, etc.) did a good job and saved this movie from being a complete disaster.

Mythica: A Quest for Heroes (2014)

Best fantasy movie i've seen for a long time

[10/10 · 25 April 2015]

Maybe for superficial people this movie would suck, but I see beyond the estethic and appearance of movies. So big budget movies like Clash of the Titans (new version) with super cgi is a really bad movie, especially compared to the original. I prefer Mythica: A quest for Heroes. It does not even have half the budget and it is more than half better in scripting and storytelling. Who needs super CGI when you have a good script and decent (even good) actors?

For a new story that has not appeared in another form before like the Lord of the Rings, it's a good one and I really want to know what's going to happen next. Unlike many fantasy movies out there that have either a poor script, poor actors, or just everything is awful.

Mrs Black does a great movie with the limited budget she has, like Peter Yates did with the Krull movie back in the early 1980s, they did not have a monster budget and did something great. I think Krull is the best fantasy (with sci-fi elements of course) that ever came out. I hope this trilogy will claim the title so I can put the Trilogy's DVDs next to Krull's and Excalibur's (1981).

The actors do the job, some are even great, like the dwarven barman (or should I say bardwarf), the main protagonist, the warrior (who is always on his butt by the way. Maybe he's still drunk from the beginning of the movie... hehe!) and the priestess are also good.

Advice to improve the continuity of the story, make sure your creatures are well rendered and logical (the ogre seemed a bit bulky, like if he was a golem instead of being a creature of flesh at some time, maybe reduce the density of muscles a bit on the cgi?). I'm not saying that you should go overboard with cgi, just make sure it is well made for the budget you have. For example, I think animation is more important than looks (look at the movies with stop-motion, the monsters were obviously not real, but they moved smoothly which compensated for the lesser appearance of the creatures). That's an idea, maybe in another series of movies you could do stop motion for your monsters like the old days.

Anyways, good job for everyone behind and in front of the camera. No cinematographic mistakes (like in the movie Lucy... it's still a good movie and story).

Oh! if ever you put a warrior lady, make sure the actress has muscles and is more massive than the usual skinny actress. Otherwise it's soooo crappy Hollywood-like.

We hope to see what has happened to Kevin Sorbo's character too.

I think the protegonist is a good character and the actress plays her well. The casting was well made.

Keep up the good work! Thanks for this movie, if you do the entire story, I'll buy the rilogy when it comes out in DVD.

Half Light (2006)

Good movie, Mrs Moore more beautiful than ever

[8/10 · 26 March 2015]

I never really found Mrs Moore beautiful, when she was 25, 30 or later. But in this movie, she is more than beautiful. Her long hair makes her look young again (early 30s) and her acting is much more evolved than in those lesser big budget movies that they pay her to get naked or something like that. In this movie, we see Mrs Moore the actress, not the beautiful face and skinny body studios paid to get earlier in her life. On top of that, she is in a good script and movie.

The movie itself is well written and made. It begins as a drama, then a fantastic movie, then a strange movie to come back to fantastic. Really great idea and well executed. No need to have hundreds of millions to make good movies, all you need are good actors(men, women and children) and a good script. In this movie, we have both of them. But be careful now, I'm not saying that it's the movie or the script of the century, I'm just saying it's a well woven one that should get more attention. I think this movie is an underdog and should be rated higher than it is right now.

Good work, and I hope that Mrs Moore comes back to the big screen with such beauty, femininity and good acting. Oh, and if you are reading this Mrs Moore, stay away from Botox, plastic surgery and all that crap, you look great just the way you are. :)